Practically Strangers
by DeadAngelo
Summary: "The Percy she knew was gone, and they were now practically strangers." AU where Annabeth finds Percy earlier than expected, but he doesn't remember anything.


**Annabeth had nearly given up hope of finding Percy. **He'd been gone for nearly four months, and no one had heard even the smallest detail about his whereabouts. To make it worse, the gods had resigned from talking to or even claiming their children. Part of her wanted to storm up to Olympus and demand someone tell her where her boyfriend was hidden. But alas, even Annabeth—the architect of Olympus—had no access to the gods' domain anymore.

Usually when demigods went missing, it either meant they were dead or doing some menial task that the gods were too lazy to do themselves. As she thought this, there was a clap of thunder high in the sky, and Annabeth scowled up at the clouds.

She was currently staying with her father in San Francisco. He'd pleaded with her to take a small break and allow him to help in the search. Many times he consoled Annabeth when he found her sobbing into her pillow at night. He knew how to help with her increasing anxiety and depression, even if you didn't know his own daughter very well. He'd gone through the same thing with Athena when she'd left him, but Annabeth prayed that Percy's disappearance was not a permanent one.

After another failed attempt to Iris Message her boyfriend, she'd decided to take a quick walk around the block, to clear her head if only for a few quiet moments. Annabeth loved to watch the mortals around her, leading a much simpler and happier life than the one she lived. They didn't have to worry about being eaten by rouge monsters or their MIA demigod boyfriends. They didn't have to go to sleep every night only to wake screaming and crying over another vague, premonitional dreams.

A shudder ran down her spine as she remembered the words that echoed each night in her dreams. "_Beautiful sacrifices to wake the goddess_." She didn't know what to make of it, or why the voice made her want to close her eyes for good. It scared her that just six words had the power to make Annabeth remember every horrible thing she'd done, or was to do.

Distracted by her wandering thoughts, Annabeth failed to watch where she was going, and she ran head first into something—or more, _someone_. With a grunt of surprise, she looked up to glower at whoever she'd run into, but she didn't have the ability to.

Her vision tunneled and her heart leaped inside of her chest. She felt herself get lost in his eyes, and she felt herself freeze in glee and terror.

"Percy."

She didn't know what she wanted to do at the moment; scream, cry? No. All she wanted was to let Percy hold her as he had all the times that nightmares had plagued her subconscious. Annabeth reached up to touch his cheek, and she was struck by reality. She could feel his skin, scraped from gods know what. He was whole, and somehow he was here. Annabeth prayed she wasn't just dreaming this.

Without a second thought, she threw herself into his arms. He didn't respond, but Annabeth was unable to care at the moment. He was _here_. He wasn't just a figment of her exhausted brain. Percy was there, as real as the ground below her, and she vowed never to let him out of her sight again.

"Thank the gods you're here!" she cried, her voice cracking. She embraced him wholeheartedly, marveling in his presence. Gods, he was finally here.

She pulled away after another moment. Anger and frustration overrode her logical thoughts, and her fist came down onto his arm, more forceful than intended. Percy flinched, and sent Annabeth a bewildered expression, but she felt it hard to care.

"Where the Hades have you been, you insensitive bastard?" she shouted, not bothering to lower her voice. Passersby sent her strange looks, but she couldn't have cared less. "You didn't call, you didn't write. Gods, it's been four months! You made us all think you were dead! Why would you do this to us? To me?" Maybe Annabeth was being the insensitive one, though—it wasn't his fault that the gods enjoyed using the two as their own human rag-dolls, created to entertain them and do their dirty work. But she had to blame someone, and the gods didn't have the courtesy to be ashamed of themselves.

"Huh?" was the only thing that came from Percy's mouth. She was struck with the urge to laugh at his puzzled question. His brain was so full of kelp that it wasn't even funny.

"Gods, Percy, you idiot!" she said, though any hint of anger was gone from her tone. Instead, a small smile spread across her lips as she felt moisture fall from her left eye. She wiped the stray tear away, and memorized Percy's face for a moment. His hair was slightly longer, and just as unkempt as usual. His eyes—gods, his eyes. They hadn't changed at all; they were still the same sea green they had been months ago, and she was reminded of the lake back at Camp Half-blood. He seemed taller, and stronger as well.

"Should I know you?"

Annabeth laughed aloud, her laugh sadistic and cruel. "Percy, really? You leave for months, and you have the gall to _joke _about it? I waited for months, Percy, thinking you were dead! And you have the _nerve _to make a joke out of it?"

But Percy's expression didn't change, and Annabeth did a quick double check. She prayed to any god that she hadn't just tackled a complete stranger and yell at them for something they hadn't done. Gods that would be _way _too embarrassing.

But no, it was him. She'd recognize him anywhere

"You are kidding, aren't you?"

Percy shook his head. "I don't think I've ever seen you before."

Either he'd gotten to become an excellent actor over the past four months, or he really didn't know who she was. Her mind drifted towards Jason, and how he'd completely forgotten his memories. Had the same happened to Percy?

As her nightmares came true, Annabeth's world seemed to crumble beneath her. She felt a sob try to escape, and she backed away hesitantly from her once loving boyfriend. Now, who knew if he even remembered _one _thing about her? She felt so small in the world at that moment, so fragile, as if one wrong move and she would fall to the ground, broken at the seams.

"No…" she murmured, her heart breaking in two. "No, Percy… You have to remember me."

But she knew it was in vain; he didn't remember her, and he may never know her again. Years of friendship and love crumbled, along with all the hope she had for finding the Percy the loved.

She'd found Percy, alright. But it wasn't her boyfriend anymore. The Percy she knew was gone, and they were now practically strangers.


End file.
